Bridge-gate.



0. 0 3., .m e ...l d e t n e t. .a P 3.... En.. RA M46 DUE FG Gm .Du BIB7. 4, 3 4. 6 n N (Application med Apr. 5, 1899.)

' 2 Sheets-Sheet l,

(No Model.)

Patent'ed Feb. I3, |900.

No. 643,407. I P. GFREREB. BRIDGEGTE. (Application filed Apr. 5, 18949.)

2 $heet9-She=.'tl 2,

' (No Model.)

PAUL GFROERER, OF EVANSTON, lLLlNOIS,-ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO NIOKOLASP. HOFFMANN, OF SAME PLACE.

saines-GATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of' Letters Patent No. 643,407, datedFebruary 13, 1900. Application tiled April 5, 1899. Serial No. 711,781.(No model.)

vTo t2/'Z whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL GFROERER, of Evanston, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement inBridge-Gates, of which the following is a description, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, which are a part of thisspecification.

My invention has relation to improvements in bridge-gates.

The invention pertains to the class of bridgegates wherein the gates areautomatically closed by the opening of the swinging bridge andautomatically opened by the closing of the bridge, the primary objecthad in view being to provide a construction which is applicable eitherto a swinging bridge which makes one-half of a complete revolution or toa bridge which swings around in a complete circle, the gates beingautomatically opened and closed in the case of either of the forms ofswinging bridges mentioned.

Vith the above primary object in view the invention consists of thedevices and parts or their equivalents, as hereinafter more fully setforth.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan View of so much of one endof a swinging bridge and its abutment as is necessary to illustrate theapplication of my invention, the gate-arms being shown as closed andt-he bridge in the act of swinging toward a closed position in order toopen the gate. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of abutment, showing the gateclosed. Fig. 3 is an under view of Fig. 1. Fig. 11 is a cross-sectionalview on the line 4 t of Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is an end elevation of thebridge.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 6 indicates a swinging bridge,the end of which is shown as curved in the arc of a circle, and said endis formed or provided on its under side and at a medial point with ashort rack 7.

rlhe numeral 8 indicates'the bridge-abutment, the end thereof which iscontiguous to the end of the bridge being curved in a corresponding arcof a circle. Journaled in suitable bearings beneath the bridge-abutmentand extending longitudinally thereof are parallel shafts 9 9, each shafthaving mounted thereon at a point between its ends a gearwheel lO, thetwo gears being in mesh. The outer extremities of the shafts havemounted thereon pinions 11 11', which are not in mesh. Also mounted onthe shafts 9 are sprocketwheels 12 12. Short shafts 13 13 are mounted insuitable bearings just beneath the side edges of the bridge-abutment,andthese shafts have mounted thereon sprocket-wheels 14 14, whichare connected to the sprocket-wheels 12 12 by means of sprocket-chains15 15. Extending upwardly from the side edges of the bridge-abutment arestandards or uprights 16 16. The upper ends of these standards formbearings for shafts 17 17, and one end of each of these shafts carries asprocketwheel 18. Each sprocket-wheel 18 is connected to anothersprocket-wheel 19 on each shaft 13 by means of a sprocket-chain 20. Theshafts 17 also carry arms 21 2l, which form the gate. The outer ends ofthese arms have extending therefrom rods 22 22, upon which areadjustablymounted counterbalancing-weights 23 23.

It will of course be understood that the end of the bridge not shown inthe drawings is constructed in a similar manner to the end which isillustrated and specifically described-that is to say, it is providedwith a rack similar to the rack 7. The opposite bridge-abutment (notshown) is alsocon-V structed exactly similar to the one hereinillustrated and described.

WVhen the bridge is at aclosed position, the rack 7 at each end isbetween and in engagement with the .pinions 11 11', and the arms formingthe gates are at the raised position shown in Fig. 4.. If now the bridgeis swung toward an open position-say the end of' the bridge shown inFig. 1 toward the leftthe rack 7 at that end of the bridge will act onthe pinion 11 and cause a rotation of the shaft 9, carrying saidpinionin one direction. This rotation of said shaft 9 will becommunicated to the other shaft 9 by reason of the intermeshing gears10, and said other shaft 9 will be caused to rotate in an oppositedirection. The shafts9 so rotated will of course cause an actuation ofthe sprocket-chains 15, and these chains, acting on the sprocket-wheels14, will cause rotation of said sprocket-wheels, and this rotation willbe communicated tothe IOO shafts 13 13. The rotation of the shafts 13will be communicated to the short shafts 17 at the upper ends of thestandards, and as the arms 21 are carried by these short shafts 17, saidarms will be turned downwardlyto a closed position. At the opposite endof the bridge the same action takes place, the rack 7 at that end actingon the counterpart of the pinion 11 and of course operating to produce asimilar action-viz., the closing of the arms 21.

If the bridge had only been swung around in a half-circle to an openposition and the end shown in Fig. 1 is then swung around to the righttoward a closed position, the rack 7 at the left-hand end of the bridgewill act on the pinion 11/ and through the described connection willcause an upturning or opening of the arms 2l, the rack finally seatingitself between the two pinions 1l 11 The rack 7at theright-hand end ofthe bridge on this swinging of said bridge will act on the counterpartof the pinion 11 and cause an upturning of the arms 2l of the otherbridgeabutment in exactly a similar manner.

If the end of the bridge shown in Fig. 1 instead of being swung aroundto the right toward a closed position is swung toward the left, the rack7 at the left-hand end of the bridge will engage the pinion 11 and therack 7 at the right-hand end of the bridge will engage the pinion 1lwhich, will of cou-rse effect the opening of both sets of arms 21.

If the bridge, after having been opened by making a half-turn, is closedby completing the circle of revolution, the left-hand end of the bridge(shown in Fig. l) is broughtaround to the right-hand abutment, and therack 7 of said end of the bridge is brought into engagement with thepinion of the right-hand abutment corresponding to the pinion 11 and thearms 2l thereby turned upwardly in n the manner described, while theright-hand end of t-he bridge is brought around to the left-handabutment, and the rack 7 of said right-hand end is brought intoengagement with the pinion 11 to cause the uplifting of the arms 21.

Of course instead of opening the bridge by swinging it toward the left,as first described, it may be opened by swinging it toward the right. Insuch case the rack 7 of the lefthand end of the bridge would engage withthe pinion 11 to effect the closing of the lefthand gate, while the rack7 of the right-hand end of the bridge would engage the pinioncorresponding to the pinion 11' to effect the closing of the right-handgate.

From the above description it will be seen that my invention is adaptedvto close the gates of the opposite bridge-abutments no matter in whatdirection the bridge is swung open and to also close the gates no matterin what direction the bridge is swung to a closed position'. Theconstruction also adapts the gates to be closed and opened by a bridgewhich is constructed to swing in a complete circle.

What I claim as my invention isA 1. The combination, of a swingingbridge, a bridge-abutment, longitudinal shafts journaled in thebridge-abutment and parallel and in close proximity to each other, saidAshafts being geared together, pinions carried by the longitudinal shaftsand arranged close to each other but not in meshing engagement, ashortrack carried by the swinging bridge and adapted to rotate one or theother of the pinions, in accordance with the direction in which thebridge is swung, outer shafts journaled in the bridge abutment, meansfor transferring the rotation of the first-mentioned shafts to the outershafts, uprights or standards, shafts journaled therein, gatearmscarried by said shafts, and means for transferring the rotation of theVouter shafts to the bridge-arm shafts.

2. The combination, of a swinging bridge provided with an end rack, abridge-abutment, longitudinal shafts journaled in said bridge-abutment,said shafts being geared together, and provided on their outer ends withnon-meshing pinions, and near their inner ends with sprocket Wheels,outer shafts having sprocketwheels mounted thereon, sprocket-chainsconnecting said sprocketwheels with the sprocket-wheels of thelongitudinal shafts, uprights or standards, shafts journaled therein,and having sprocketwheels mounted thereon,sprocket-chains connectingsaid sprocket-wheels with sprocketwheels of the outer shafts, andgate-arms carried by the shafts of the uprights or standards. Intestimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

PAUL GFROERER.

Witnesses:

J. E. DRIEsBAoH, J. F. BOYER.

IOO

